


Unto our reward

by SkittishCat



Series: Beyond the Walls [5]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: F/M, The curse of the determinant character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:40:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22054210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkittishCat/pseuds/SkittishCat
Summary: The newcomer's loyalty is tested as Clementine's methods are called into question.
Series: Beyond the Walls [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1479128
Kudos: 7





	Unto our reward

A simple nod was all it took to signal the guards to open the gate. Seeing a few tons of wood swinging his way, Glenn took a couple of steps back to be sure he wouldn’t be in its path, while Clementine and Andrea nonchalantly continued their conversation as the barrier passed within a foot of Andrea’s shoulder. Clem was telling Andrea about the history of the prison, a tale she continued as they stepped into the sally port. The interval between the outer gate closing and the inner gate opening gave her plenty of time to explain how she’d stumbled upon the cave while returning home from her battle with The Delta as well as the various events over the years that’d led to their decision to convert it into a prison. 

The guards led them deep into the cave, making enough turns down enough branching shafts that Glenn was fairly certain that if he got separated from the group he’d never find his was back out again. Eventually they stopped at a row of dimly lit cells. While the corridor itself appeared to have been a naturally occurring shaft it was clear the cells had been carved into the rock by human hands. Clementine banged her fist on one if the cell doors, causing it to make an awful clatter. She called out to the inhabitant “Get up. It’s time.”

From a shadowy corner in the back of the cell came a quavering reply. “You don’t have to do this.”

Clementine cocked her head and shot back “Yeah, but I want to. Besides, you’re a priest aren’t you? Won’t this just be going home for you?”

The desperate voice from the shadows pleaded “It was just an act. I was a stranger to those people. They had an island, it was safe. I had to get them to trust me. Things just got out of hand…”

Unimpressed, Clem gave her retort. “Out of hand? Thousands dead, countless more had their lives turned upside down, and you brush it off as an act? A con, so you could live safely on an island? Bullshit! Those people worshiped you and you loved it. Now’s time to pay the bill. So, are you going to walk out of that cell or are you going to make us drag you out?”

The man’s voice cracked as he cried out “Please, killing me won’t solve anything!”

Calmly, Clem turned to the guard and made a motion toward the cell door. “Kicking and screaming it is.”

The guard unlocked the door, while the man inside cried out “You’re a god damn monster! You’re just as guilty as I am! We all did what we had to to survive, all of us!”

Before the guard could enter Andrea waved him off, telling him “I’ll handle this.” As she strode the cell, Glenn knew to look away. He didn’t want to see what she was going to do to him. He heard her taunt the man, “Do you remember me, asshole”, and decided it would be best if he put some distance between himself and the condemned. 

He walked toward the far end of the corridor. He hadn’t even made it the length of one cell before he heard the crack of a bone breaking followed by cries of pain. A chill went through his spine causing him to pause in his tracks. He leaned against the bars of the cell neighboring Arden’s, only to jump a moment later upon hearing the unmistakable growl of a walker. He looked around and eventually spotted a dead man on the floor of the cell, slowly sliding along the ground on his belly, propelling himself with one functioning leg while his other limbs flopped about uselessly.

“Don’t be alarmed. He’s at peace.” Came a voice from the third cell. “And soon his friend will be too.” Glenn peered through the darkness to try to see the source of the voice. A man with white hair and a white beard slowly limped toward him. “I was here when he transitioned. In life he was a very troubled, angry man. Now, he’s as innocent as a newborn babe.” The man reached out, feeling his way forward until his hand came in contact with one of the bars of his cell. He grasped the bar with his right hand, then felt around until he found a second bar to grasp with his left. He pressed his face between them, allowing the light from the corridor display his features, revealing that his corneas were as white as his hair. “They came in together, mentor and protégée. His name was Paschal I think. I didn’t have long to get to know him. He must have done something terrible to offend her so much. A few days after he arrived she came for him. She didn’t say a word, she just started beating him. She didn’t stop until he was like this.”

Glenn looked at Paschal, then back at the white haired man. “He earned it.”

The man spoke softly, more as though it were his nature to do so than because he didn’t want their conversation to be overheard. “And what has she earned?”

Glenn gave the man a puzzled look, then answered “A crown.”

The old man pressed on. “That’s what she’s gained, but is it really what she deserves. Were her actions so much different than theirs? Were they worse?”

Glenn gave him an irritated look “She did what she had to to protect her people. You weren’t there. You don’t know what it was like.”

With regret in his voice, the old man explained “I wasn’t there this time, but I was with her before, when she fought The Delta. I saw what she was like then and she hasn’t changed. I tried to save her little boy from turning into her but I couldn’t get him to leave, so I’m the one who ended up leaving instead. When I came back years later and found nothing but carnage. Heads, on display, everywhere. And they said AJ was the one doing it, they even called him a hero for it… She made him every bit as bloodthirsty as she is. I went to her town and found the people there were entrusting their children to her, allowing her to shape the minds of a whole generation. I couldn’t let her make more AJs…”

Glenn held up a hand, which he then realized the blind man wouldn’t be able to see. “Stop, just stop. I don’t need to hear why you’re in here or why you think it was justified…” Glenn looked back toward Arden’s cell just in time to see Andrea throw him face first onto the floor of the corridor. “I just need a moment while they finish what they’re doing, then I’ll be on my way.”

The blind man continued “You can’t stand this. You hate witnessing this as much as I do. It’s only going to get worse. Arden told me about the war, about what she did to his army after she’d won. I left my pack after our alpha did that to just a handful of people. How can you stay with her knowing what she’s done… what she will do?”

Glenn looked down. He wasn’t proud of the role he’d played in setting up the field of a thousand heads, but he knew his was only a small part, and that Clementine had done little more than watch while it was being erected. Still, rather than correct the man, he simply answered his question. “Clementine’s saved my life time and again. She’s earned my loyalty.”

“Yours is only one life. How many other lives has she ended? How far are you willing to watch her violence spread? Do you really think…” The man suddenly stopped speaking. Glenn looked down the corridor to see Clementine walking toward them while Andrea and the guards were disappearing around a corner with Arden.

“I see you’ve met James. I’m a little surprised to see he’s the one talking to you, since Valerie’s right over there. So, he tell you why he’s here?”

Glenn gave Clementine a pained look. “He started to but I didn’t want to hear it.”

Clem’s eyes narrowed as she looked at James. “Hmm. Was he giving you his pacifist spiel, telling you how violence is wrong and how terrible I am because I still use it? Go ahead, James, tell him why you’re here. Tell him who you killed.”

Solemnly the man answered “I didn’t know…”

In a mocking tone she countered “You tried to kill a pregnant woman but expected her baby to survive? What am I missing here? Go on, tell him who died when you tried to kill me.”

“…that you were pregnant.”

She looked incredulous. “You mean the belly didn’t give it away? And, what, it would’ve been ok to kill me if I wasn’t? C’mon, say her name.” James stood in silence.

Uneasily Glenn tried to defuse the situation. “It’s OK, I already know who…”

Sharply, Clem announced to James “Christa! Her name was Christa! She’d be 27 now. Don’t think a day goes by when I don’t imagine the sort of life she could’ve had.”

James yelled back “How many more lives were cut short because of what you turned AJ into? Christa’s death was a tragedy… but look at what you’ve been doing to people since then, the violence you’ve unleased everywhere, that’s the greater tragedy!”

Clementine smacked one of the bars James was holding, startling him and causing him to stumble backwards. “Fuck you, James!” She tugged on Glenn’s arm and told him, “C’mon, we need to get going.”

They walked briskly through the cave, trying to catch up to the rest of the group. Clem led while Glenn, who didn’t know the way, followed. As they neared the main entrance, Clem slowed down and finally spoke. “I can feel your eyes on me. You don’t have to give me that look. I didn’t mean to blind him. I was just trying to get away.”

The thought hadn’t crossed his mind. He was more focused on whether or not he’d be able to stomach what was about to happen to Arden. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me.”

When they arrived at the sally port they found the guards strapping a screaming Arden to a post mounted on a wagon. It was the fifth Ascension Day, the holiday commemorating Clementine’s speech at The Commonwealth where she declared herself queen, and to celebrate they were finally holding a triumph to honor their victory over The Provident. Arden was about to be paraded through town then executed at the end of the parade route by the virago triumphalis, Andrea. 

Seeing the guards secure the garrote around the condemned man’s neck was the last straw for Glenn. His sister would have to forgive him for missing her big moment because he simply could not watch this anymore. When the outer door of the sally port opened and everyone else proceeded down the road toward the start of the parade route, Glenn made a sharp turn and headed around the hill toward the lake. He spent the next few hours looking through the water at what was left of the Stewarts Fitzgerald. When the sun was directly overhead, he heard a roar coming from the direction of the town. A quarter of a million people had just expressed their pleasure over watching a man die. Maybe James was right about Clementine spreading her bloodthirst…

“Nice day for a walk, just maybe you could’ve let me know ahead of time that this was your plan. When I didn’t see you with Andrea, I was worried they’d lost you in the cave.” Glenn turned around to see Hana walking toward him. She was carrying Glenn Jr, who was looking backward over her shoulder at the moment.

“Sorry. I got a little overwhelmed.”

“I kind of figured this wasn’t exactly your sort of thing. I was surprised you even went with her to the prison. If Andrea knows you like I do, she’ll give you points for that.”

“Andrea’s not like that. Trying your best and meaning well don’t cut it with her. All she looks at are results. I wasn’t there, that’s all that’ll matter to her… if she notices me at all. With everything else that’s going on, she probably won’t even register that I wasn’t there.”

“Yeah, no one else did either. Just me and the kidlet here. Everyone else was too busy noticing that someone else was absent from the ceremony; AJ. He and Jessi were nowhere to be seen. Kind of explains why your sister got the place of honor rather than one of the generals. I heard all sorts of speculation, everything from ‘they’re on strike’ to ‘they’re out on a secret mission’.”

Glenn looked down into the water. “Getting out of town sounds pretty good right now. I wouldn’t have to listen to everybody’s war stories for the next few days.”

Hana shrugged. “What’s stopping us. We have our choice of planes. They’re fueled and ready to go. We don’t need to pack, we can just buy whatever we need when we land. I’ve even got the kid right here. Where do you want to go?”

Glenn thought for moment “Well, there’s this clinic in…”

Hana cut him off. “No. No business. This is purely about getting your mind off of what troubles you. Now let’s hear it, where do you want to go?”

“Where’s your farthest airfield?”

“Fargo, but we don’t want to go there this time of year. How about we go in the opposite direction? Fort Lauderdale’s probably a lot warmer. I wanna see what the ocean’s like. Is it warm, is it cold, do the waves smell like a waterfall? I hear ocean water tastes all salty and stuff.”

Glenn raised an eyebrow and gave her a half smile “I’ve been in it. It tastes gross.”

She gave him a wide eyed grin “See, I didn’t know that. C’mon, get up, lets go. Seriously, my arms are getting tired and I need you to carry the kid for a while.”

They walked to the airfield without seeing a single soul along the way. Once there the only person they encountered was a lone guard, who was in a sour mood because he was missing the festivities. Hana picked out a plane and prepped it for the journey while Glenn prepped their son. He’d lost count of how many planes she’d acquired and was pretty sure she was at the point where she wasn’t showing him the new additions to her fleet anymore. The first dozen or so were exciting and new but after that it got to be routine. During the war she’d fallen in love with Bob’s plane. When the war ended with Appalachia in control of a source of petroleum, she decided to put her passion to good use. She took a loan from her father and started buying up and restoring as many old planes as she could find, well before any shipments of gas arrived in Everett. Her small airline quickly turned a profit, allowing her to pay off her loan and expand her business ever further. As for the role Glenn played in all of this, well, she’d needed a pilot to teach her and her employees how to fly all the planes she was piling up, and since Bob wasn’t interested in the job, Hana turned to only other person she’d ever known who’d flown a plane, Glenn. He taught her everything Bob had taught him then helped her train her pilots. She invited him to join her as her business partner but he wasn’t interested. Flying was her passion, not his. All he wanted was to see maimed people made whole again via the new limbs he could craft for them. Not wanting to lose him, Hana asked him to become her life partner instead, an invitation he whole heartedly accepted.

They made a stop at the midpoint of their flight, which turned out to be Santee, to eat and tend to Glenn Jr., then proceeded on to Florida, arriving near midnight. One of Hana’s employees had secured lodging for them at a local inn, which Hana couldn’t help but notice came nowhere near meeting the standards of her sister’s inn. Hana mused that she’d have to convince Nida open an inn in every city where she owned an airfield. 

After seeing the quality of the rooms at the inn, they decided to have breakfast elsewhere. They found an open air café with a view of the ocean. They spent the morning enjoying the view, and getting their son to eat his food rather than wear it. They paid little attention to the foot traffic along the boardwalk between them and the ocean, that is until one couple stopped, waved, and began walking towards them. The man wore the standard tourist’s uniform, shorts, tee shirt, flip flops, and a ratty old brown and white hat, while the woman wore a sun dress and sandals with her hair in a pixie cut. 

“Howdy there strangers, mind if we join you.” It was a familiar voice coming from a barely familiar woman.

Hana spoke first “Jessi! I didn’t recognize you. Either of you. You look so different. Oh, yes, sit, please.” After they sat down, Hana wrapped up her thought by saying “I wouldn’t have guessed that cutting off your braid would’ve made such a difference.”

“We’re retired, have been for about three years.” AJ answered.

Jessi elaborated “No more training or long hours on horseback for us, which for me means I’ve lost a bunch of weight, mostly muscle. For him it means he’s gained a bunch of… not muscle.”

“But your braid?” Hana asked with a look of concern.

Jessi leaned back as she spoke. “It was my warrior braid. When we quit, I loped it off and left it on Clem’s desk. But that’s all in the past now. We’ve got a new life here and it looks like you two have been doing well, how about we talk about what’s been going on with you instead? Tell me about the little guy here.”

Hana beamed “Well, this is Glenn junior, and he and I are about to take our first dip in the ocean.” She gave an exaggerated “yay” and her son followed suit. 

Jessi addressed the two year old with forced excitement. “Is this your first time seeing the ocean?” The boy answered with a clipped yes. “Well I’m glad I arrived when I did, I wouldn’t want to miss this. Are you ready to go see it?” The boy answered with a “yay” and clapped his hands. Hana took a quick inventory of their plates. She and Glenn junior were done but Glenn wasn’t.

Seeing her look, Glenn suggested “Go on ahead. I’ll catch up in a bit.” 

The boy got up and began to run, so his mom called after him “hands” which prompted him to return to her and grab her hand. He then made a point of grabbing Jessi’s hand, who feigned a look of shock and told AJ “Looks like I’m going too.” Glenn and AJ sat and watched as the three of them headed off toward the water.

Once their wives were beyond hearing distance, Glenn asked “You said ‘retired’, she said ‘quit’. Which is it?”

AJ sighed. “We walked out on Clem. She asked us to do something we couldn’t. She wanted us to lead an invasion of The Western Alliance. We said no. I’ve fought raiders my whole life, Glenn. I won’t become one, not even for her… So, that was it, we took a stand and it cost us our relationship with Clem, but it was worth it. Without us, she didn’t launch the invasion, and eventually The Western Alliance joined The Regency of their own accord, so no one got killed. But that just means she’ll be looking at Cascadia next and there’s no way in hell anyone’s going to convince them to give up without a fight.”

Glenn stared at his plate for a moment. He knew she’d been building up her army, she couldn’t hide how large it had become, but he’d hoped she meant to use it for defensive purposes. Deep down, however, he always knew that this was her intent, all AJ had done was confirm it. Changing the subject to something a bit more pleasant, he asked “So how’d you end up here?”

AJ took off his ratty old hat and set it on the table with the bill facing Glenn. “We came to see Kenny.” AJ seemed to think Glenn should know who that was, so Glenn shot him a puzzled look. “You know, Kenny, the guy who protected Clem in the early days of the trials, the guy who was there when I was born and gave me my name… You mean to tell me you’re the only person on the continent who hasn’t read any of those books?”

Glenn shook his head. “Nope, not a one.”

“Well, Kenny was pretty important to us. So important that Clem made sure his remains were interred in what was left of his boat. She said it meant a lot to him. I wanted to pay my respects and since we didn’t have any other responsibilities anymore, I figured we could work our way down the coast and see the sights. When we got here though, we found the berth where his boat had sunk was full of tourists, almost all of them holding one of those books. It would’ve been OK if they were being respectful but some of them were jumping in and breaking pieces off of his boat to keep as souvenirs. I wanted to put a stop to it and Jessi, well she just loves the weather here, so we decided to settle. We found an old house nearby that we’ve been restoring and I set up a tourist booth near Kenny’s boat where I can tell people about him while making sure they treat him with the respect he deserves.”

Glenn looked at him quizzically. “And you make money doing this?”

“Psshh, they’re printing money with my face on it and you think I’m doing this because I need the cash? I have all the money I could ever need, and It’s not like I need much to begin with.” Glenn pulled his billfold out of his pocket and flipped through it until he found one with AJ’s image on. He turned it so AJ could see it, then raised one eyebrow at him. “OK, they may have used an old picture from back when I still had hair… and a few less pounds… and even then it looks like the touched it up a bit... The point is, I’m happy here. I’m getting to meet all sorts of people, every one of them here because they’re curious about Kenny. All of them have interesting tales to tell, and I have all the time in the world to kick back and listen to what they have to say. There’s no drama here, no one’s getting killed. The nearest bad guy is three thousand miles away. It’s just serene.”

From the direction of the ocean they heard a cheerful whoop. Hana and Jessi were returning with Glenn junior between them. They’d swung him up between them, which left him giggling and asking to go again when he returned to the ground, so they obliged him. When they got back to the table, Glenn could see that the two adults were soaked up to their knees, while the child was drenched from head to toe. “I thought you were going to be right behind us?” chided Hana while trying to wring out her pant leg, which wasn’t working out so well considering she still had her leg in it.

“Sorry, I was catching up on what’s been going on with AJ. He manages a tourist attraction now.” 

Hana looked up at him. “I’m a little surprised you aren’t the attraction. Aren’t you a prince or something? Like, the kind that’ll be king some day?”

AJ grinned and picked up the bill Glenn had pulled out. “AJ Crawford, the handsome young man on this bill here, probably would draw a crowd. As would the Jessi Crawford who appeared on the photo with a field of heads behind her. But Alvin and Jessica, the retired couple volunteering at the tourist booth, no one seems to notice us. And as for me being king someday, I wouldn’t hold my breath. Clem’s pushing sixty and she’s healthier than most teenagers. I wouldn’t be surprised if she outlives us all.”

Jessi sat down next to AJ and patted his leg. “Hey hon, why don’t you show Hana and the kid where your booth is. That way I’ll get a chance to hang back with Glenn and talk behind your back for a while.” 

AJ gave her a worried look. “We weren’t talking about you.”

“I know.” She reassured him. “You’d have that guilty look on your face if you did.” AJ got up and started heading down the boardwalk, beckoning Hana as he went. Hana looked at Glenn who gave her a worried look in return. She got up and following AJ with Glenn junior in tow. When they were gone, Jessi asked “I hear Clem’s been building herself a fancy new palace... been cutting herself off from the public. Any chance you still get to see her?”

Glenn shook his head. “No, not anymore. It’s pretty much only when she needs a part replaced on one of her prosthetics. I did get to see her this morning, though. She seemed angry.”

Jessi slumped back in her chair a little. “Yeah, I shoulda figured that. She’s already got about as much use out of you as she can. No one outside of The Commonwealth really gives a shit about you and well, she’s already got them locked down.”

Glenn’s eyes grew downcast. “Could you get any more cynical? I thought Clem meant the world to you.”

Jessi cocked her head “Oh, don’t get me wrong, I still love her. She’s my other mother. It’s just that I’ve gotten to know her is all. I’ve seen how she operates, how she uses people.”

Glenn anticipated where she was going with this. “Then tosses you aside like yesterday’s garbage?”

Jessi looked at him with surprise “Actually, no. That’s what sets her apart from other users. As long as you’re loyal to her, she’ll make a place for you. That’s probably why most people don’t notice what she’s doing. Well, I do. She’s always playing the long game. Setting up the dominoes so they’ll fall when and where she needs them. She started with me and AJ and grew it into… well, an empire. She’s a good fighter and all, but you don’t build an empire with a knife and a gun, you do it with people. She got lucky with AJ, he just naturally developed into every bad guy’s worst nightmare, but it was like she decided to see if she could repeat that success when she found me. I was a nasty, hate filled, little shit when I walked through that gate and she managed to make use of that. She focused that hate it into something useful, convinced me I’d have to train and study before I could get my revenge. She fed me everything she could find on war; tactics, logistics… anything I could use to kill raiders. I ate it all up and asked for more. You name a historic battle right now and I’ll probably be able to break down the winning strategy for ya. I’m serious. I can’t say I’ve memorized them all but chances are, if you’ve heard of it, I’ve committed it to memory. When she saw how well it worked with me, well, the floodgates were open. People kept leaving their kids with her. They saw her as some poor crippled has-been in need of a purpose, and watching their little ones while they went off to work was the best thing they could think of for her to do. They must’ve had no idea who they were dealing with. It’s scary how fast she can read someone, how she can pick up on what their good at, what motivates them, stuff like that. She groomed those kids, turned them into her assets. Spies, officers, engineers, diplomats, you name it. She started from scratch and made her own new generation of experts. It didn’t matter that she didn’t know squat about any of those things, all she had to do was stir them up and hand them the right books, they’d take care of the rest. Just look the results. Jaques had double our number at Joplin but we mopped the floor with him. He was a bureaucrat who got his command through his political connections, while I got mine because Clem’s had me dissecting battles since I was six. The idiot didn’t stand a chance. It’s kind of embarrassing how easy annihilating his ass was, kind of like playing chess with a child who was still figuring out the rules.”

Glenn gave her a tired look. “Is there a point to all of this?”

“Well, yeah, I thought I kinda started with that. Don’t trust her Glenn, she has no use for you anymore.”

“What do mean? I’m still her prosthetist.”

“And you think you’re the only one who can make those replacement parts for her? Trust me, at this point you’re replaceable too. Everyone is, even me and AJ.”

Glenn assumed a skeptical tone. “How do you replace your kids?”

With a hint of sadness, Jessi explained “Do you see Lee here? When we left, he refused to come, chose his grandma over his parents. Guess we shoulda seen that coming, what with all the time we spent on the road, leaving him with her as much as we did. What’s more, he’s an even better student than I was. She doesn’t need me or AJ to lead her army anymore, she’s got him. She’s been getting him ready for this since birth and let me tell you, I wouldn’t want to go up against him. When she sets him loose on the world, the world ain’t gonna know what hit it.”

Glenn gave her a look of disbelief. “He’s what, all of fifteen? Isn’t it a little early to start talking about him leading an army? I mean, he’s still a child.” 

Jessi shrugged. “Alexander was sixteen when he won his first battle in Thrace. Same with Clem when she turned back The Delta. Hell, AJ and I were fifteen when we formed The Rangers, although that was a bit of an accident. All we did was start riding out of town, locked and loaded, looking for revenge, and a bunch of likeminded folks followed. What I’m saying is, age doesn’t matter. When you’re ready, you’re ready. And as for that thing about him being a child? Lee’s never been a child, Clem wouldn’t let him.” 

Looking peeved, Jessi stood up. “You’re done eating. Walk with me.” Glenn allowed his eyes to bulge for a moment at the thought of having that decision made for him, then remembered who he was talking to and complied. “We’ve been sending letters to Lee, trying to get him to come see us here. I know it’s just a silly fantasy but I keep hoping that if I can just get him to come see this place, to see how happy we are here, that he’d want to stay, that we could finally be a real family. We never got a reply to any of them. I don’t know if they’re not getting to him or if he’s just ignoring them, but he can’t ignore you. You said you’re still Clem’s prosthetist, that tells me you can get on the palace grounds. Find Lee for me, Glenn. See if he’s been getting our letters. If he hasn’t, let him know I love him and I miss him and I want to see him, it’s just… we can’t do it there, not after the way we left. See if you can get him to come here. Beg if you have to, and if he won’t, well, find out if there’s someplace else he’d be willing to meet us. We’ll go anywhere to see him again, we just can’t go back to Everett.”

Glenn noticed she didn’t say what to do if he was simply ignoring her. He gave her a moment to finish, gave her a prompting look, then asked “And what if he has been getting them?”

She looked up briefly before concluding “Then I’ll know I’ve lost him.” She gestured in the direction of the tourist booth where AJ was giving a piggy back ride to Glenn junior. She smiled and added “In which case we’ll just have to start borrowing your kid. Hope you don’t mind if we spoil him too much.”

They stayed at the booth until sundown, then followed AJ and Jessi back to their home, where they’d been invited to stay the night. The home they’d found had an intact frame and mostly intact plumbing, which they’d been in the process of restoring. After putting Glenn Junior to bed, Jessi told Glenn and Hana to go out and have fun for the night while she and AJ watched the little one. She reassured them that no matter what they did, she and AJ would be the ones who’d be having the better time, just getting to be parents again. 

They awoke on the beach shortly after sunrise. When they returned to the house Jessi took one whiff and commented that they must’ve had a busy night, then showed them to the shower, which she reassured them worked most of the time and only occasionally got backed up with sewage. After they’d finished cleaning up, they followed the sound of giggling until they arrived at the kitchen, where AJ had turned making pancakes into a performance art and their son was flush with laughter.

When they finished eating, Hana brought reality crashing back down around them when she reminded them that she had a business to run and that Glenn had clients who were probably waiting to see him. Reluctantly, they returned to the plane and flew home to Everett, where the city seemed to still be collectively hung over from the Ascension Day celebration. 

Each time he flew back to it, Glenn marveled at how quickly the city had grown. Just a few years earlier the airfield had just been a dirt strip in the middle of some farmland. Now it was a full blown airport, surrounded by buildings as far as his eye could see. Everett had become the seat of government, which for some reason meant people expected to find it full of opportunities. As the nation grew, so did the number of people arriving daily on the rail lines that ran into the city, which from the air had begun to look like a giant disorganized spider’s web. 

Hana’s wealth had allowed her to build a manse on a hill, complete with household staff, on what had briefly been on the edge of town, but had now been fully engulfed by a residential district. After dropping Glenn junior off at home with his nanny, Hana and Glenn each went to their respective offices to catch up on any business they’d missed while they were out of town. Once he found that there was nothing his staff couldn’t handle without him, Glenn proceeded to go through his files on Clementine’s prosthetics to try to find an excuse to enter the palace grounds so he could deliver Jessi’s message to Lee. Unable to come up with one, he gave up and went home. Later that night, he awoke when inspiration struck him. Clem wasn’t the only amputee in the palace. Her head of security had also been one of his clients, one he hadn’t seen for years. 

Unable to go back to sleep, he got up and got dressed. Since there was a chance he might see Clementine later that day, he made sure to strap on the pistol she’d given him years earlier. He hated wearing the damn thing but clearly it meant something to Clem, since she’d made sure it got back to him after the events at Havendale, so he always made sure to wear it whenever there was a chance he’d run into her.

He headed out into the night to go to his workshop. Once there, he dug out the schematic for what might have been the first prosthetic he’d ever made, a wooden arm he’d constructed for Corrina Allen. Working from the measurements he had on record, he proceeded to build a new fiberglass arm for her, along with a new hand and hook with rubberized tips, and a neoprene sleeve for her stump. When it was done, he boxed it up, and let his staff know he was leaving to see a client and would not be retuning that day.

He took the trolley to the eastern terminus and headed on foot around the military base that had been erected on the outskirts of Everett. He’d made this trek many times in the past, whenever Clementine needed his services, and every time he went this way, he tried to peer through the gaps in the garrison wall as he walked past it, in an attempt to figure out what was going in inside. All he could see within was a row of houses, which he assumed was where the officers were quartered.

When he arrived at the checkpoint at the entrance to the palace grounds the guards simply waved him through, they all knew who he was. Once inside he stopped to ask if any of them knew where he might find their commander. The consensus among the guards was that they never knew where she was, they just knew that she’d instantly appear anytime any of them ever made any kind of mistake. Unable to make use of that information, Glenn proceeded up the gentle slope toward the mountaintop where the palace was being built. He knew better than to look for Lee or Corrina within the palace, all he’d find in there would be construction workers, but at least from the peak he’d get a good view of the grounds below and maybe get lucky enough to spot one of them.

After about fifteen minutes of scanning, a voice directly behind him asked “May I help you, sir?” Corrina had come to him. He turned to see that she wore the new uniform of a Regency officer, complete with rank insignia indicating that she was now a colonel. She still wore the prosthetic nose and arm Glenn had made for her during the war and had grown her hair out so she could wear it in a way that covered her right eye and facial scars. She wasn’t wearing the bandolier with the massive bullets this time, but instead she was carrying what appeared to be the rifle that matched those bullets slung across her back. “I understand you were looking for me?”

Glenn pointed at the rifle and commented “I heard you finished the war on an artillery crew, I just didn’t expect to see you carrying one of the cannons around with you.”

She maintained her stoney expression. “It’s just a rifle, Glenn, not the biggest one around, not even the biggest one I own. It’s based on a Sharpe’s buffalo rifle, same as the one I carried in the war. The only difference is we added a bipod to this one. Now, If you’re here because you’re an admirer of big rifles, you’re welcome to visit me at home. That’s where I keep my Lahti.” She pulled a bullet out of a pouch on her belt and held it up for Glenn to examine. It was the size of the ones he’d seen her carrying in Johnstown. “It fires a round three times this size.” She put the bullet back in her pouch then added “but you didn’t come here to discuss rifles, did you?”

He contemplated answering yes, just to see if she’d change her facial expression, but thought better of it. “No, I came to bring you these.” He squatted down and spread his boxes open on the ground to display his wares. Looking up, he replied “I thought you might be overdue for an upgrade, now that I have some new materials to work with.” He first picked up the arm, then stood and offered it to her.

She examined it and commented “You could’ve brought these to me at home, you didn’t have to come all the way up here.”

Glenn pointed out “Not since you moved on base, I’ve never been granted access. This was the only place I knew for sure I’d be able to find you.”

Corrina gave him a concerned look. “We’ll have to fix that.” She then held up the arm and commented “It’s a lot lighter than the wooden one. You know the line of work I’m in. I need something that’ll hold up in a fight. Are you sure this is durable enough?”

“The wood and fiberglass are just the skin, it’s the metal frames inside them that gives them their strength. When I made the wood one, all I had to work with was plain old iron. The new one has a titanium frame. It’s both lighter and stronger, and if you damage the fiberglass it’s a lot easier to replace than wood.”

Corrina looked at the new arm longingly. “How much is this going to cost me?”

Glenn feigned offense. “Uh, for you? One thank you and a promise of some climbing lessons… for my kid, not me. I get dizzy if I get up on a step stool.”

Corrina chuckled. “Ok, I think I can afford that… Thank you, Glenn.”

Glenn beamed and gave a slight bow. “My pleasure. As long as I’m here, you’re not the only one I haven’t seen for a while. Do you know where I might find Lee?”

Corrina briefly looked at him with suspicion, then stepped around him to get a view of the palace grounds. She scanned for a few seconds then pointed. “See that yurt, near the wall, that’s where he’s been staying but he’s rarely there at this time of day. You might want to try coming back at sundown.”

Glenn had to squint to see where she was pointing but eventually spotted the temporary structure by the wall that marked the edge of the palace grounds. “Uh, thanks. I don’t have anything else planned for the day, I think I’ll just hang out and watch the construction. If that’s alright?”

Corrina shrugged. “Suit yourself. Hey maybe if you’re still here when I get off duty, you can stop by and I can show you that Lahti. You won’t believe where we found it.”

Unsure what a Lahti was, and really not interested in finding out, Glenn answered “Sure, that sounds great”, just to be polite.

Corrina gathered up her bounty and they went their separate ways. Glenn took his time and checked out the construction equipment as he went. There was a time, just a few years earlier, that he wouldn’t have been able to contain his excitement at seeing the old world machinery, but now after all the trains and plains he’d ridden in, seeing trucks and cranes just didn’t seem all that special anymore. He spotted a stack of granite blocks near the wall, well positioned so that he could see both the palace and Lee’s yurt from beneath them. He rolled a piece that had broken off of one of the blocks into the shade and sat down to watch the show. He spent hours watching the crane move block after block into position while the masons worked their magic. 

Near sundown he spotted a group of three men walking toward the Yurt. All three moved as though they were tired and sore from a hard day of physical labor. He noticed the one in the middle, the tallest of the bunch, seemed to be doing most of the talking. He was also bending his wrist back and forth repeatedly as though it had been mildly injured. Glenn didn’t recognize any of them, but figured they might know where he could find Lee. He stood and brushed himself off. Before he finished brushing, he could hear one of the men tell the others “I’ll see you guys later. It seems I have a visitor.” While his appearance had changed enough that he was hard to recognize, at least his voice hadn’t changed much, although it was a little deeper.

“Lee?” Glenn asked hesitantly.

Lee smiled and nodded at Glenn. “Has it been that long?”

“Apparently.” Glenn gestured toward Lee’s arm. “Did you hurt your wrist?”

Lee held his hand up and wiggled his fingers. “Clem happened by while we were sparring… Whenever she catches me with the kali sticks in my hands, she makes sure to stop and teach me something new… If you ask me I’d say she just trying to remind us all that she’s still the best. Today she showed me an open-handed disarm. Maybe I’ll get to practice it someday, if I ever get feeling back in my fingers.” Lee gestured for Glenn to follow him into the yurt. “So what brings you here today?”

Glenn had to duck to get through the entrance. Considering that Lee was now taller than he was, Glenn would have thought that Lee might want to rectify this inconvenience. “I, uh, ran into your parents. They said they hadn’t seen you for a while…”

Lee busied himself preparing a tea kettle. “So, they sent you in their stead, to what, apologize? To ask me to join them? I’ve seen it all already. They keep sending me letters, although I stopped reading them once they started to become repetitive. There’s only so many ways you can beg someone to pay you a visit… They were right you know? To leave I mean. Their time had passed. Let them know I wish them the best. Long may they stay out of my way.”

Glenn’ face turned dour. “They did want me to try to convince you to come to see them, yes.”

Lee shook his head. “I don’t have time. You heard Clem on Ascension Day. We’ve already begun moving troops and supplies to Bozeman. I’ll be leaving in three days myself.”

Glenn’s brow furrowed. “Hana and I missed the ceremony. We took little Glenn to see the ocean. What did she say?”

Lee gave Glenn a surprised look. “Omar’s daughter Hana? You and she have a child?” Glenn nodded. Lee’s look turned briefly to one of disbelief. “Well you certainly married above your station.” While Glenn was still too stunned by his comment to come up with a reply, Lee moved on. “Clem announced she’d sent an ultimatum to Cascadia. The usual, join us or die, or something like that. It doesn’t matter, they’re going to ignore it anyway. We’re going to make a show of building up our troops along their southern and eastern borders so they’ll move their forces up to counter us, then we’ll wait for the dry season and rain incendiaries down upon them. Like us, they feel safe within their forested mountains. We’re going to take those forests away from them, and not just along their front lines. We plan to set fires all throughout their territory. Since they’ll have the bulk of their manpower arrayed along their borders they won’t be able to contain the conflagration. Left to rage unchecked it will destroy everything in its path, city and country alike.”

Glenn suddenly felt a little sick. “Won’t that kill indiscriminately? Like, a lot more than just their fighters?”

Lee smiled “Yes! Yes it will. That’s the point. We intend to make an example of them. You can’t engage in carrot and stick diplomacy if no one ever sees how scary your stick is.”

Glenn began to protest. “But the innocent civ…”

Lee cut him off. “There are no innocents in Cascadia.”

Glenn tried the old standby. “What about the children?”

Acidically Lee replied “Born into blood. Their prosperity marks the fruits of their parents’ misdeeds, and that is something I cannot abide. Look, I get that you don’t know the history of how Cascadia was founded, and even if you did, knowing you, you still might feel pity for them. I won’t. That’s why I’ll be leading The Regency’s forces into this war and not my parents. They never had the stomach for total war. I have no qualms about it. Cascadia’s leaders rose to power on a tall pile of corpses. I’m going to reduce everything they’ve built to ash and sleep well after doing it”

Glenn felt a chill go up his spine. Hearing the ease with which Lee spoke about mass murder left Glenn with the urge to flee. He decided to wrap things up so he could get out of there as soon as possible. “Then, that’s it, I suppose. Should I tell your parents you won’t be coming?”

Lee laughed “Oh good heavens, no. But please, let them know they’re welcome to attend my triumph. We should be holding it around October, maybe even on Clementine’s birthday. Now wouldn’t that be a fitting present for a queen? The last untamed segment of her continent… It’s been good seeing you again, Glenn. Too bad you couldn’t stay for tea.”

Glenn exited the yurt hastily enough that he hit his head on the frame on the way out. The sun had set while he was visiting with Lee but the full moon in a cloudless sky made the path to the gate easy enough to see. He arrived at the checkpoint to find the guard talking on the phone. He held up his hand when he saw Glenn, signaling him to stop. When he hung up, he informed Glenn “The queen wasn’t aware that you were here. She’s asked that you meet her in the entry hall.”

Glenn tried to hide his alarm. “In the palace? It’s still being built, how am I supposed to find the entry hall?”

The guard narrowed his eyes with annoyance. “Look for the big arch with a queen standing in it.”

Glenn nodded in resignation, then turned to make the hike back up the path to the palace. Much to his dismay, the journey gave him time to think about what Lee had said. He’d felt ill-at-ease around the boy since the first moment he’d met him, and now he had confirmation that his first impression was well founded. Lee’s plan to target civilians as a matter of strategy was in sharp contrast to the concept his father had based his career upon; protecting those who couldn’t protect themselves. Glenn briefly entertained the thought that if only AJ could talk to him, he could reason with him, maybe change his way of thinking, but it was too late. The contempt with which he spoke about his parents made it clear that seeing them wouldn’t do any good. He was too far gone.

When Glenn arrived at the palace, it wasn’t hard to find the entrance. The construction crews had set up lights inside the first floor, which had been left on and made every external opening easy to spot. A voice called down to him “Entrance is right below me. Once inside the stairs should be easy to find, just walk straight ahead and you’ll run into them. I’ll meet you on the second floor.” She wasn’t kidding about the stairs being easy to find, they were wide enough to fit three carriages side by side. He ascended the stairs to find Clementine waiting at the top. The only items to be found on the second floor so far, beyond the floor itself, were a bunch of support columns and some construction lights, which been left turned off. As Glenn looked around at the empty space, Clem gestured around herself. “Try to imagine a fancy hallway with a big ole door…” She took a few steps then continued “…right about here.” She beckoned for him to follow, so he did. “Aaand, welcome to the throne room, good sir.” She continued to gesture as she walked, while Glenn continued to follow. “We’ll be building a gallery there and there, while the throne will be right about there. But, over here is what I called you up here to see.” She walked over to the edge. “This is where we plan to build a balcony. It’s really for making speeches but the big perk is…” She gestured to the west. “That’s the view I’m gonna get while I’m up here.” Glenn stood to her right and looked at where she was pointing. He could see the lights of Everett, the city she’d built. “With a view like that, I’m going to have to find lots of excuses to give speeches at night.” It was an impressive sight and Glenn found himself momentarily lost savoring the beauty of it. “You see, that look, the one on your face right now, that’s why I invited you up here. I needed to share this with someone who’d appreciate it as much as I do. I already shared it with Lee but… I don’t know if there’s anything that makes him happy… God I miss AJ.”

Before he could consider what he was saying, Glenn blurted out “I just saw him, he’s doing well.”

Clementine turned to the south and looked up at the moon. “I know. Lee told me. He called right after you left to tell me you tried to get him to leave, like it was some big conspiracy to derail the invasion. I had to remind him that sometimes parents actually like to get to see their children. The kid can understand the most complicated concepts imaginable, but it’s basic humanity that trips him up.”

A doleful Glenn observed “I noticed. He told me about what he plans to do to Cascadia. He’s going to reduce it to ash. I can’t imagine you approve.” 

Clementine turned back toward Glenn and gave him a mirthless smile. “It’s not his plan, it’s mine. He’s just following orders. Look, we needed to send a message, and sowing their fields with salt seemed a bit extreme, so we’re burning down their forests instead. It’s already part of nature’s cycle so we know the forests will recover. We’ll just be giving nature a little help, making sure all of it burns down at once so Cascadia will be left defenseless. And, since most of Cascadia’s settlements are located within those forests, yes, chances are there will be a lot of collateral damage, but Glenn, did you hear about how Cascadia was founded?”

Glenn gave her a disturbed look. “It doesn’t matter what their founders did, or even what their leaders are doing today, it doesn’t excuse targeting civilians.”

She gave him a pleading look. “Glenn, that’s what the world had come to before the fall and that’s what it’s going to go right back to now that the trials are over. Civilians are the ones who produce the weapons and supplies that sustain the soldiers, targeting them is the best way to bring a war to a swift end. I know, it sucks, but we have to use every tool at our disposal. Right now we hold a major advantage over every other nation on Earth, in resources, population, technology, you name it. Our scouts have confirmed it. We have to bring as many of those nations under our banner as we can before they have a chance to catch up with us, and Cascadia is one of the strongest. We have to think long term, we can’t risk our forces recklessly out of some sense of chivalry.”

Glenn scoffed. “And what if AJ were here? What would he think of your plan?

Clementine appeared hurt by the thought of AJ’s reaction. “I don’t have to imagine it, we’ve already had this discussion. That’s why he left. Look, AJ is a good man, but a good man isn’t what we need right now. Good men make peace, they make allies, they rebuild after everything is over, but they don’t change the world.. I will.”

Glenn felt flummoxed. “So that’s it? You’re OK with being remembered as one of history’s greatest villains as long as you achieve your goal?”

Clementine looked down, then back up at him with a pained look on her face. “I’m not OK with it, but I accept it. By the time this is over, I know I will have earned that distinction, but I can already tell you, that’s not what’s going to happen… Do you remember Elaine, the girl on the roof in Johnstown? We tracked down her family. You missed them, they were here for Ascension Day. I got to meet them, the day after the festivities. I invited them to my office and sent my guards away. I wanted them to tell me exactly what they thought about me, to hold nothing back. I figured whatever they dished out, I deserved it. Boy was I ever wrong... They loved me. They called me their liberator, their protector. I was their daughter’s murderer and they ignored that fact, they were too thrilled to be meeting the queen. All they were interested in was telling me how great things have been under my rule. I thought that maybe they hadn’t heard me, but they did, they’d just decided to blame Father Arden for her death, even though I’m the one who pulled the trigger… I don’t get it, but it keeps happening. I do things that should bring me nothing but ire and the vast majority of people find a way to see it as another reason to love me. I take part in a raid that wreaks havoc on Richmond and they call me a hero. I murder a bunch of people at Fort McCarroll and they turn it into a tale about a mother who’ll do anything to be reunited with her son. I drown a bunch of my own council members and they call me a strong leader. I leave a thousand heads in a field and I kick ass. That’s how I’m afraid history is going to treat me, that they’ll see everything I do as something good no matter how terrible it is. The ends shouldn’t excuse the means, no matter how noble they may seem. I should be vilified as the last person to unleash war upon this planet but instead I’ll probably be remembered as the person who ended it.”

He’d gone too far. He’d struck the vein of depression that periodically surfaced when she was away from the public eye and now all of that pent up guilt and self-loathing that she’d been building up over a lifetime of hard choices came flooding out. If he was to have any chance of reasoning with her he’d have to bring her back from that abyss. “That’s because they consider the good things you’ve done, something you never seem to do. It hasn’t all been bad. You’re known for protecting people. It’s kind of how you got to where you are today.”

She gave him a grim smile. “I know this might be hard to believe under the circumstances but I actually do have a conscience. Every time I hurt someone it’s like a hammer blow against it, while every time I help someone it’s soothed just a tiny bit. They make a big deal about all the people I’ve helped…And I’ve certainly made use of that... But the way I see it, I didn’t really have choice. I had to help them, it was the only way I could stay sane… or something close to it. I lied, I stole, I killed, I manipulated… I’m the worst person I’ve ever known, and somehow the world is a better place because of it... The only real good thing I’ve ever done with my life was raise AJ and now… Listen, Glenn, I know you were here to get Lee to go to him but I want you to get AJ to come to me. I don’t care what was said, I just want him back. I need him… We all do.”

It struck Glenn how right she was. They did need AJ. He was the only one who could put an end to this madness. Otherwise, it would be like James had said, her violence would continue to spread. Glenn nodded and told Clementine “Alright, I’ll see if I can convince him to come back. He didn’t think he’d be welcome after the way he left but if that’s all water under the bridge to you, I can’t see him saying no.”

She rushed up and hugged him, declaring “Thank you, I know he’ll listen to you.”

After giving the hug a moment Glenn asked “Now that the serous business is out of the way, can we get back to enjoying this view. I assume it’s not going to be this way forever, I mean once they finish building the rest of the palace you won’t be able to see as much of the sky as you can now.” 

She disengaged her embrace, took a step back, and looked up. “Yeah, but it sure is gorgeous tonight.”

He needed her to take a few more steps back and look away from him. She outmatched him in every way imaginable, but she trusted him completely. She’d let her guard down around him in ways she never would around other people. He might have a chance if he could find the right distraction. “Is that how the moon looked on the night you met Violet?”

She turned to look at the moon. “It wasn’t when we met, it was the night we first kissed.” He’d found his distraction, she quickly became engrossed in retelling the story of her night on the bell tower. As quietly as possible he took two steps back and drew his pistol. He reassured himself that at least this way, reliving the moment she fell in love, she would die happy. He reminded himself that there was no way he’d escape if he went through with this, pulling that trigger meant ending both of their lives, but how many people would die if he didn’t? He held the pistol with both hands and rested his right thumb over the hammer. All he had to do pull down on the hammer and squeeze the trigger and AJ would be king. He’d halt the invasion and scrap the rest of the wars Clementine had planned. He might even understand Glenn’s reason and pardon him… nah, not a chance. All it would take was two simple movements and it would all be over. Just a push down with the thumb and a pull back with the finger… and he couldn’t do it.

Resigned to the fact that he simply wasn’t a killer, Glenn gave up. He looked away in disgust and chided himself that in his hands a weapon was little more than a decoration. After shaking his head, he turned his attention back to the pistol to move his thumb off the hammer. In an instant his right forearm ceased to exist, while much of the flesh was rent from his left. Glenn hadn’t heard the shot, but he did hear its echo thundering through the hills. Clementine dropped to a crouch and first looked in the direction that Corrina had fired from, then at the spot where Glenn’s pistol had clattered to then ground, and finally up at Glenn, who stood frozen in a deep state of shock. She kept her eyes on him as a pillar began to crumble after being struck by the large caliber round that had passed through his arm. Quickly surmising what had happened, Clem grabbed Glenn’s pistol and fanned the hammer, causing him to fall.

Glenn opened his eyes and found that he was looking up at the stars. Involuntarily he gasped, only to have the breath cut short by a pain unlike any he’d ever felt before. Each subsequent breath was sheer agony. He became aware of distant voices. One asked “Are you alright ma’am?” While another asked “Is he dead?” Into his darkened field of view stepped Clementine who answered “No, he was wearing a vest.” She was right in front of him but sounded far away. Someone turned on the lights, obscuring his view of the stars but making Clementine very clear to see. She looked toward an unheard speaker and answered “Of course I did, I’m the one who gave it to him.” She looked back down at him and asked “Why, Glenn?” He tried to speak but his effort only caused his chest to spasm. Another voice called out “R.I.S. is on their way. We need him alive, someone get a tourniquet on that arm.” 

One of the guards attempted to get close enough to Glenn to perform first aid but Clementine was standing over what was left of Glenn’s right arm and would not move. Instead, she checked the cylinder on Glenn’s pistol to see if she had any shots remaining. She looked down for a moment, steeling herself for the blow that was to come. Glenn could hear Corrina’s voice calling “Ma’am, ma’am?” Clementine turned toward Glenn and raised the pistol between them. In that moment, Glenn found himself looking across the sights into those golden eyes that had been the last thing that so many before him had ever seen…

***

It was one of those days. He should’ve known it was going to suck when he woke up with his head feeling like an overripe melon but he knew he had to get his butt out of bed no matter what. Cattle didn’t accept excuses and they didn’t offer sick days. On his way out the door he saw the thermometer read 37 °C… and that was at sunrise. It would only get hotter from there. During the night one of the fence posts had been knocked over, so he found himself spending a couple hours gathering his herd back into their pen and fixing his fence, which was not how he’d planned to spend the morning at all. By the time he spotted the dust cloud on the horizon he was tired and irritable… and the sun hadn’t even reached its peak yet.

He made sure his repairs would hold then gathered his tools and made his way to the gate to greet his guests. He could see the glint of chrome on their vehicle, telling him that whoever these interlopers were, they had enough resources available to them that they could waste petrol coming all the way out there to see him. The truck pulled up to a halt about twenty meters away from where he stood. Four men disembarked and approached him. One of them removed his hat, wiped the sweat from his brow and got down to business. “G’day. Pardon the intrusion. We’re looking for Glenn Grimes. We were told we might find him around these parts and well, this is the first homestead we’ve seen in nearly fifty kilos. Would you happen to know if he lives nearby?”

Glenn paused for a moment, sighed, and answered “Looks like you’ve found him.” He opened the gate and invited them to “Come on in. You can tell me how bad it is on the way. I think I already know why you’re here.” He pointed at a rifle one of the men was carrying. “You’ll want to leave that in your truck.” 

The man gave him a stern look. “The only way I’m giving up my rifle is when it falls from my cold dead hand.” His Oklahoma accent stood out like a sore thumb among the sea of Australians Glenn had grown used to hearing ever since he’d landed in these parts. 

Glenn simply replied with an exhausted “Trust me on this one. You don’t want to do this.” 

The leader of the group put his hat back on, then looked at the Oklahoman sideways and admonished him “Come on, Stan, this isn’t why we’re here.” Begrudgingly the man tossed his rifle into the cab of the truck and the group began to follow Glenn down the path toward the ramshackle structure that passed for his home.

Their leader spoke as they walked. “You’re queen has…”

Glenn gruffly corrected him “She’s not my queen.” He waved his hand broadly in the general direction of his home, signaling whoever was inside. A young man stepped through the doorway holding a rifle.

Conciliatorily the man continued “Of course. Clementine has taken Jaka…”

Glenn cut him off again “Can this wait until we get indoors?” The man shrugged and remained silent the rest of the way. Hana had been working on repairing their windmill when the messengers arrived. She stopped what she was doing when she saw Glenn waving and made a beeline for the house. She beat them to the porch where Glenn explained “Mom, these men came asking for me but I think they’d rather talk to you. It’s something about Clementine.”

Seeing that their guests were unarmed, the young man pushed his foot back against the door to hold it open so their guests could enter, while still holding his rifle in a low ready position, just in case. None of them went in. The befuddled looking leader of the group just kept looking back and forth between Glenn and Hana before finally addressing Hana. “We were told we could find a Yank by the name of Glenn Grimes here. Queen Clementine had an advisor by that name. We were hoping he was one and the same.”

Sullenly, Hana answered “You found his widow instead.”

“I’m sorry to hear that ma’am. How long…”

Hana’s eyes narrowed. “When she put a bullet in his head, twenty years ago. The Glenn Grimes you’re thinking of never lived here. I’m sorry you came all this way for nothing. There’s a well out back where you can get some water for your return trip.”

The man took his hat off again, clutched it to his chest, and looked around in frustration. “What about the rest of you. We came all this way… Please. She just took Jakarta. Soon Australasia will be all that’s left. If any of you have any insight you could offer, anything we could use to stop her advance…”

Barely above a whisper, Hana answered “You can’t stop her.” The messenger grew pale after hearing her answer. “The only thing that could’ve stopped her was time and it looks like that’s run out for all of us.”

The man put on a brave face. “There’s still a chance. She’s overstretched. There’s no way anyone can control that much territory. There’s a train in Alice Springs waiting to take us to back to Canberra. If there’s one good thing to come out of this, her approach got us to set aside our bickering and reform the government. You should come with us, all of you.” His eyes landed on the old man in the chair. He drifted off briefly, as if distracted by an elusive memory, then continued. “You never know, one of you could be the key to putting an end to her tyranny.” 

The young man at the door snarled “Hey, asshole, haven’t we lost enough…”

Hana cut him off sharply. “Rick! That’s enough.” She then addressed the messengers. “I think it’s time for you to leave. Don’t bother coming back. We won’t be here.”

Pleadingly the man asked “Don’t do this, ma’am. Look, if you’re on the run from the mad queen, you’re just about out of options…”

Sternly she ordered “Leave! Now!” and grabbed the rifle from Rick.

The leader held his hands up and backed away “Alright. Alright. We’re going, but if you change your mind you know where to find us. Just… don’t wait until it’s too late, please.” The man turned, put his hat on, and walked away.


End file.
